Roads near the camp ground to a halt as police fired tear gas and used batons to clear the arterial routes.

A spokesman for Calais police said: “‘Gangs broke out of the camp overnight, and started threatening drivers in the middle of the road,’ said a Calais police spokesman.

“Tear gas and baton charges were used to restore order, and then the gang members were forced back inside the camp.”

The clashes followed an earlier standoff with police on Monday when around 200 migrants and activists threw stones and three makeshift shelters were set ablaze.

One person was arrested for trying to stop a group of about 20 workers under heavy police protection from clearing the site, where about 3,000 people are staying.

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The woman threatens to mutilate herself

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Police grapple with the woman whielding a knife as she slashes her wrists

Activist Francois Guennoc of the Auberge des Migrants support group said: "The migrants are just going to run and hide in the woods and the police are going to have to go after them.”

Regional Prefect Fabienne Buccio had said the police presence was needed because "extremists" could try to intimidate migrants into turning down housing offers or buses to reception centres.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said last week that authorities would work with humanitarian organisations to relocate the migrants to a nearby park of converted shipping containers or other reception centres around France.

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The woman and her companion are taken away

Evicted Calais migrants sleep rough in Paris

Wed, August 3, 2016

Hundreds of migrants evicted from the Calais Jungle camp sleep rough in Paris.

Calais camp is dismantled as resident set fires and throw stones at Police

On Thursday, a judge upheld a government order to evict migrants living in the southern part of the camp, although a few makeshift buildings of social importance such as a school and a theatre are to remain untouched.

Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty, from Afghanistan to Syria, have converged on the northern port over the past year.

Many attempt to climb illegally onto trains using the Channel Tunnel or into lorries heading to Britain where they hope to settle. Their presence has led to tension with some of the local population and to a permanent police deployment.